American Idol- Who Cares?

I do not own a cell phone or a pair of jeans, have never taken drugs or cheated on my wife or taxes, and am not exactly a social butterfly. But what really makes me an outlier is that I have never watched American Idol. It's OK with me if you do, but why do so many of you care so much about it?

I do like the idea of exposing the fact that, consistent with what the normal curve would predict, in a country of over 300 million people there are an enormous number of folks with a lot of talent. While every once in a while there comes to light someone, like Luciano Pavaroti, that really is a few standard deviations from the mean and is truly great, more common are the very many that are really good. Some are famous, but most are fronting bands at the local Ramada Inn or serenading in the shower. Sure, training, practice, personality, etc., can hone singing ability, but basically you're born with the pipes, and a lot of people are. Success then becomes a matter of connections/position, luck, marketing, etc. (Witness the success of such relatively ordinary- or less- talents such as Paris Hilton and Tori Spelling, the packaging of the boy bands and Madonna, and the stories of those on the right stools at Schwabb's Drug Store- probably didn't spell that right, but odds are most aren't going to get the reference anyway.) So the show does allow a slightly fairer, more egalitarian opportunity to attain one's 15 minutes and perhaps a monstrously overpaid career, despite any criticisms of the methodology or Sternsian meddling. Though entertainers are way over-valued in my opinion, I like the democratization of the process, and it does foster involvement in the audience, but why so much? This goes way beyond the good old fashioned Gilligan's Island-type escapism.

I get it if you just want to hear some of the many talented people, or you like the berating of those not-so-talented, but why do you care so much? OK, we each have our guilty little pleasures when it comes to TV, and inexplicably get attached to stupid little shows, and that's fine. But shouldn't you know it's just a stupid little show and not take it so seriously? I hear people discussing, even arguing about "Idol," as they call it. They seem to know everything about Jordan Sparks, but do they know anything about Monica Goodling?